


Touch The Heart

by littlealex



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Remixed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-04-27
Updated: 2009-04-27
Packaged: 2017-10-12 07:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlealex/pseuds/littlealex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aiba knows lots of things that Ohno doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touch The Heart

"Leader, did you know...." This is not really a sentence that often ends well for Aiba. If it were anyone else in Arashi, Ohno would listen with interest, because it would be a sure imparting of True Facts, or at least Mostly True Facts. Ohno still listens with interest when it's Aiba, except that his interest lies more in the realms of 'what is Aiba going to get wrong this time?' than any true interest.

So when Aiba takes him to a lunch at a Chinese restaurant for dim sum and this is his opening statement, he's a little skeptical. The pause is lengthened as Aiba stops a cart going by and chooses three plates of various sticky-looking clear dumplings, but somehow the train of thought is still with him.

"Did you know that the word 'dim sum' means 'touch the heart'?" Ohno stares at Aiba for a moment, because that actually sounds like a piece of information he can trust, and he doesn't really know what to do with it.

"Really?" He opts to reach for a shrimp dumpling as Aiba stops another cart for something slippery and white, something else slippery and noodle-like, and a square of something fried. Honestly, eating Chinese food is an adventure, and Aiba could tell him the names of everything ten thousand times and he would never remember them all.

"Yeah," Aiba says, managing to slurp the slippery white thing with surprising dexterity. "I think it comes from the fact that everything comes in such small portions. Or that they're so delicious the feeling goes straight to your heart." Ohno doesn't mind as much as the others when Aiba speaks with his mouth full, but it's a little distracting when there's soy sauce dribbling down his chin.

Ohno leans over and dabs a napkin to Aiba's chin wordlessly, even as Aiba chews away happily. "I think you're just making that part up," he accuses quietly, but there's a small smile on his lips and Aiba grins.

"Leader, you're so smart," Aiba says without a hint of sarcasm, and rather than being grating sincerity, Ohno can't help but feel his heart a little warmed because of it. The way he manages to slurp a chive-filled clear dumpling is a little less heartwarming, but amusing nonetheless.

A few more things are added to the table of food, and Ohno wonders where in Aiba's stomach he is planning to fit all of the food he's ordered. "Leader, did you know..." Aiba cuts into Ohno's thoughts about what piece of food he should go for next and steals the last pork thing with the yellow skin and orange bits on top. Ohno likes those ones. "Did you know that in some places in the world, it's not called 'dim sum', it's called 'yum cha'?"

"Yamcha? Like in Dragon Ball?"

"No, yum cha."

"'Yum'?" Ohno muses, reaching for some of the Singapore noodles. "I guess that makes sense, it is pretty 'yum'. And you do drink tea with it." Though he doesn't really understand why the name would be half-English half-Chinese, it's logical in a strange way.

Aiba just giggles, barely managing to save the food in his mouth from spilling out. "No, silly! 'Yum' is a Chinese word for 'drink'!"

"So it means 'drink tea'? That makes even less sense than 'touch the heart'." Ohno's pretty sure he can believe that 'yum cha' is another word for 'dim sum', but that doesn't mean he has to enjoy the education he's getting, and he frowns at the confusion of it all. Aiba should have stuck with his first trivial fact.

"Actually, it refers to the event of eating dim sum foods while drinking tea." This time, Aiba sounds positively informative, and Ohno has no idea where all of this trivia about eating habits of the southern Chinese is coming from, but it's good to see that Aiba's able to recall some sort of information.

Unless there's a cue card somewhere. Ohno checks around the restaurant just in case, but there isn't one, and he just looks back at Aiba and nods. "That's interesting, Aiba."

After that, the meal progresses more normally, and they order way too much food - steamed vegetables with hoisin sauce, savoury rice porridge with thousand year eggs, barbecue pork buns, mango pancakes, and all those other strange Chinese foods that Ohno finds bizarrely tasty but can never quite reconcile within himself. They talk about normal things, and while Aiba's talking a bit more than he might usually, and seems a bit fidgety throughout, Ohno doesn't sense anything strange about the meal.

Once they've demolished more than Ohno ever expected them to, Aiba sits back with a cup of tea and says, "Leader, did you know...." Ohno steels himself for another pointless piece of information of dubious veracity, and looks over at Aiba expectantly. Aiba doesn't say anything for a moment, staring into his cup of tea with an uncommon pensive look on his face.

"What is it?" Ohno nudges gently, shifting his seat a little closer so that they can talk quietly.

"Leader, did you know... that I like you?"

Aiba's confession takes the breath out of Ohno, and he freezes to the spot. He's not really sure he knows how to react, so he puts his cup of tea back on the table and looks at it for a moment. When he turns back to Aiba, their eyes lock and Ohno can't help but feel like his heart might have skipped a beat. "I... I didn't know."

"Well, now I've told you," Aiba says, a gentle smile on his face. "You can do anything you want with the piece of information, including put it wherever you keep the ones about dim sum."

Ohno stares at Aiba for a minute, slack-jawed and not knowing what to say. Hearing a confession is one thing, but knowing what to say back when you feel your heart stop but your mind won't get out of the way... it's difficult and he stalls, rubbing his mouth with a napkin even though he knows it's clean.

"Aiba, I'm not sure... I mean, I don't know... and it's... we're..."

Aiba just giggles as Ohno continues to fluster for a moment. "I know. It's okay." He reaches over and pats Ohno on the hand, and Ohno thinks that he is way too calm to have just confessed and not gotten an immediate answer.

"Leader, did you know... I can wait until you're sure."

**Author's Note:**

> Remixed for jentfic_remix by basil_ovelby into [Der Traum des Oenghus](http://community.livejournal.com/jentfic_remix/48973.html).


End file.
